Oceanside has serious competition for Chargers

OCEANSIDE -- When it comes to the San Diego Chargers looking for
a new home, Oceanside isn't the only city in the game, according to
leaders of Chula Vista and National City.

"I would have to put my money on my own city," Chula Vista
Councilman John McCann said last week when asked where he expected
the football team to build a stadium.

During interviews last week, leaders of Chula Vista and National
City discussed the numerous benefits and drawbacks of several
stadium sites that the Chargers are studying in the two South Bay
cities.

The team says it wants to leave aging Qualcomm Stadium in
Mission Valley within the next decade for a facility that is state
of the art, and it has identified Chula Vista, National City and
Oceanside as potential homes.

Oceanside and Chargers officials expressed interest earlier this
month in the team building a stadium on a 70-plus-acre, city-owned
golf course near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Oceanside
Boulevard.

The Chargers have said they are interested in the Oceanside site
because of its proximity to I-5 and rail lines, and because it's
close to fans in North County as well as Orange, Riverside and Los
Angeles counties. Oceanside has 42 square miles and 180,000
residents.

Officials with Chula Vista and National City, who began talks
with the Chargers last year, said they weren't surprised that the
National Football League team is now talking to Oceanside.

"I think competition with other cities would be healthy," McCann
said.

Chargers officials have said they want to stay in San Diego
County and are looking for a city that could provide it with land
for both a $700 million stadium and a development, saying revenues
from a housing, business or entertainment project would help pay
for the stadium.

Team officials have said they want to put a stadium issue on the
ballot in November 2008 no matter which city they choose. Chula
Vista and National City officials said they hadn't spoken with
anyone in Oceanside about the Chargers, although one National City
councilman appears to have thrown his support behind Oceanside.

"I think Oceanside is the best location and it's a great idea,"
said Louie Natividad, who has served on the National City council
since 2002.

But other National City officials said they want to explore the
possibility of forming a partnership with other cities and the
county to find a way to bring the Chargers to their city.

For its part, Chula Vista says it has hired consultants, paid
for by the Chargers, to review possible sites in the city.

Here is a look at possible stadium sites in the South Bay
cities:

Chula Vista: Many sites, many options

Chula Vista Councilman McCann said he lobbied the Chargers to
consider moving to his city for more than two years, and team and
city officials officially began discussions in May.

The rapidly growing city of more than 235,000 residents has
several potential sites on the eastern edge of town as well as
along San Diego Bay, he said.

McCann said Chula Vista, which is 55 square miles and next to
the U.S.-Mexico border, has about 2,000 acres of developable land
on the eastern portion of the city near the ARCO Olympic Training
Center, the Otay Reservoir and a site planned for a future
university.

"We could put not only a stadium, but we would look to build an
entire village community based around the stadium," McCann
said.

He said there were "multiple private developers interested in
participating in the Charger deal," and he added that Highway 125
is slated to be extended to run through the area.

The site is bare today and would require extensive road
infrastructure and mass transit, but McCann said the city would be
able to start clean and wouldn't have to "deal with any existing
issues."

McCann said a stadium near San Diego Bay could be appealing
because of the proximity to Interstates 5 and 15 as well as
railroad and trolley tracks lines. He said there is a mix of public
and private land along the bay front that would offer beautiful
views for a stadium.

He said a stadium in Chula Vista could help the Chargers reach
the Latino market, noting that Tijuana, with more than 1 million
people, is close by and that at least half of Chula Vista's
residents are Latino. He said Chula Vista has had success with
regional recreation and entertainment venues such as the Coors
Amphitheatre and the Knotts Soak City USA waterpark.

Chula Vista Councilman Steve Castaneda said that any possible
stadium deal would need to benefit the city economically and not
disturb existing communities.

He cautioned that sites on the end of town could be hard to
access, while the bay-front properties are more constrained and
would need approval from the California Coastal Commission.

Chula Vista will know what sites will work best after a New
York-based consulting firm completes a 12-week study of all the
possible locations for a stadium. Chargers officials said they
agreed to pay $200,000 for the study because they don't want to
place the burden of finding a location on local cities.

"My understanding of talking with the Chargers is they are very
interested in Chula Vista and Oceanside," Castaneda said. "They are
working very hard to see if one of those locations will be a
solution for their problem."

National City: Beautiful bay-front real
estate

Leaders of National City said last week that they also have a
viable site for a stadium.

About four months ago, National City officials began discussions
with the Chargers about building a stadium in their city of 60,000
residents south of San Diego and north of Chula Vista.

The city and team say they are looking at a 60-plus acres along
San Diego Bay west of I-5 and south of Bay Marina Drive.

National City Mayor Ron Morrison said "its a pretty spacious
site that is used very little" and owned by the San Diego Port
Authority.

The city said it sent out more than 19,000 surveys to residents
last year about what they want to see on the property, and that
more than 55 percent of the 1,800 respondents supported the idea of
an entertainment center or sports facility near the waterfront.

"I think people were extremely positive (about the Chargers),"
Morrison said. "We saw there is extremely high level of community
support."

But several business owners on the property have said there are
many jobs that would be lost if the site was turned into a
stadium.

The site includes a range of businesses such as a lumber
company, automotive services businesses and some county government
offices.

Chris Zapata, the city manager of National City, said there are
about 350 people who work at businesses on the property, but many
of them could be relocated.

He said the city had been in contact with leaders of Chula
Vista, the city of San Diego, San Diego County and San Diego State
University about the possibility forming a joint powers authority
that would allow the agencies to work together under one
leadership.

"This is a regional question that requires a regional solution,"
Zapata said. "The bottom line is that the region needs to keep the
Chargers in the county."

Morrison said the bay-front property would make a great site
because it's near downtown San Diego, I-5 and trolley lines. He
said the site is not big enough for a development the Chargers
could build to help pay for the stadium.

National City would consider partnering with another city or
county to find property off the site that the Chargers could use to
develop, and then would share potential revenue generated by a
stadium in National City.

But several National City council members said there were many
issues that needed to be studied before they could support a
stadium.

Natividad said he believed that a football stadium would be too
large for the site and would generate too much traffic for a city
of 9 square miles.

The site needs to be better utilized because the city only
received about $48,000 in revenue last year for more than 50 acres
of waterfront property, said Councilman Frank Parra.

He said National City has a few more hurdles to attracting the
Chargers than the other cities because the bay-front property is
tightly constrained.

"I think Oceanside has potential," Parra said. "The city of
Chula Vista also has some sites around the bay."

Chargers fever

Chula Vista's McCann said he was aware of National City's plan
to put together a partnership to help keep the Chargers in the
county.

"Right now, we want to focus on a Chula Vista site," McCann
said. "We really don't want to help another city get a site right
now."

Chula Vista and Oceanside appear to have taken the lead on
finding a stadium site for the Chargers, according to Chula Vista's
Castaneda.

He said "some people love the idea and some people hate the
idea" of building a stadium in Chula Vista, but that the issue has
attracted interest throughout the county.

"We all have Chargers fever," said McCann.

Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood said he doesn't want the cities to
start bidding against each other for the team. Wood said he
believes Oceanside is one of the prime candidates for a stadium,
but that the Chargers are seriously considering all three
cities.

"We can all speculate on what is going to happen," Wood said.
"But no one will know until the Chargers finally make up their
minds."